A number of civil society organizations (SCOs) expressed their concern about the exclusion of the obligation to examine the annual report of the Prosecutor’s Office in Parliament and to publish it on the official website of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Eighteen SCOs call on the future legislative body to reinsert the given norms in the text of the law on the prosecution service, IPN reports.
According to the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, the relevant provisions were excluded from the law on the prosecution service that was published in the Official Gazette on January 4. The proposal to exclude the given obligation was submitted by MP Anatolie Zagorodnyi.
On October 23, 2018, the given amendment was included after draft law No. 312 was adopted after being given a first reading on October 11. The amendment proposed by the MP wasn’t published on the Parliament’s website and consultations or public debates with civil society and the interested sides weren’t held. The amendment was published in the report of the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities only on November 23, 2018, the day the bill was given a final reading.
The author of the initiative provided no argument in favor of the exclusion of the given provisions. Moreover, the report of the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities also does not contain such arguments. Following the amendment proposed by the former MP, the prosecutor general will be obliged only to present a report on the work done by the Prosecutor’s Office the previous year to Parliament by March 31. This way, the MPs will no longer be able to question the prosecutor general and to examine his report publicly and in parliament sitting.
“We profoundly regret that by the given amendment, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova reduced the exigencies for ensuring transparency and prosecution bodies’ responsibility towards the public, which can lead to the diminution of the people’s confidence in the independence and professionalism of the prosecution service and undermining of the image of this institution,” runs the statement.
The statement was signed by: Legal Resources Center of Moldova, Transparency International Moldova, Journalistic Investigations Center, Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance, Institute for Public Policy, Institute for European Polices and Reforms, Amnesty International Moldova, Human Rights Embassy, “Acces-info” Center, Independent Journalism Center, Foreign Policy Association, Partnership for Development Center, Promo-LEX Association, WatchDog.md Community, Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption, Independent Think Tank Expert-Grup, Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, Women’s Law Center.
